U.S. Federal Courts
Federal judge blocks White House from ending Title 42
Advocacy groups say policy further endangered LGBTQ asylum seekers
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rule that closed the Southern border to most asylum seekers and migrants because of the pandemic was to have ended Monday, but it remains in place after a federal judge blocked the Biden administration’s plans to end it.
The White House last month announced it would terminate Title 42, a policy the previous administration implemented in March 2020.
U.S. District Judge Robert Summerhays in Louisiana on May 20 issued a ruling that prevented the Biden administration from terminating the Trump-era policy. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in a statement announced the Justice Department will appeal the decision, while adding the administration “will continue to enforce the CDC’s 2020 Title 42 public health authority pending the appeal.”
“This means that migrants who attempt to enter the United States unlawfully will be subject to expulsion under Title 42, as well as immigration consequences such as removal under Title 8 (of the U.S. Code),” said Jean-Pierre.
Advocacy groups and members of Congress with whom the Washington Blade has spoken since Title 42 took effect say it continues to place LGBTQ asylum seekers and other vulnerable groups who seek refuge in the U.S. at even more risk.
Oluchi Omeoga, co-director of the Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project, last month described Title 42 as a “racist and harmful policy.” ORAM (Organization of Refuge, Asylum and Migration) Executive Director Steve Roth said Title 42 “put asylum seekers in harm’s way in border towns and prevented them from seeking safety in the United States.”
Title 42 was to have ended less than a month after five members of Congress from California visited two LGBTQ shelters for asylum seekers in the Mexican border city of Tijuana.
The Council for Global Equality, which organized the trip, in a tweet after Summerhays issued his ruling described Title 42 as a “catastrophe.”
“The Biden administration cannot breathe a sign of relief until it’s a matter of the past,” said the Council for Global Equality on Saturday. “We remain committed to end Title 42.”
#Title42 is a catastrophe ā and the Biden administration cannot breathe a sigh of relief until itās a matter of the past. We remain committed to #EndTitle42. https://t.co/9EKJTiJzoV
ā The Council for Global Equality (@Global_Equality) May 20, 2022
U.S. Federal Courts
9th Circuit upholds lower court ruling that blocked anti-trans Ariz. law
Statute bans transgender girls from sports teams that correspond with gender identity
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday upheld a lower court’s decision that blocked enforcement of an Arizona law banning transgender girls from playing on public schools’ sports team that correspond with their gender identity.
Then-Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, in 2022 signed the law.
The Associated Press reported the parents of two trans girls challenged the law in a lawsuit they filed in U.S. District Court in Tucson, Ariz., in April 2023. U.S. District Judge Jennifer Zipps on July 20, 2023, blocked the law.
Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, who was named as a defendant in the lawsuit, appealed the ruling to the 9th Circuit. Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes is not defending the law.
A three-judge panel on the 9th Circuit unanimously upheld Zipps’s ruling.
“We are pleased with the 9th Circuitās ruling today, which held that the Arizona law likely violates the Equal Protection Clause and recognizes that a studentās transgender status is not an accurate proxy for athletic ability and competitive advantage,ā said Rachel Berg, a staff attorney for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, in a press release.
NCLR represents the two plaintiffs in the case.
U.S. Federal Courts
Federal judge: Military can no longer prevent people with HIV from enlistingĀ
Lambda Legal filed lawsuit on behalf of three servicemembers in 2022
A federal judge on Tuesday ruled the Pentagon can no longer prevent people with HIV from enlisting in the military.
Judge Leonie M. Brinkema of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria issued the ruling in a lawsuit that Lambda Legal filed against the Pentagon in 2022.
“Defendants’ policies prohibiting the accession of asymptomatic HIV-positive individuals with undetectable viral loads into the military are irrational, arbitrary, and capricious,” wrote Brinkema. “Even worse, they contribute to the ongoing stigma surrounding HIV-positive individuals while actively hampering the military’s own recruitment goals.”
Brinkema further stated “modern science has transformed the treatment of HIV, and this court has already ruled that asymptomatic HIV-positive service members with undetectable viral loads who maintain treatment are capable of performing all of their military duties, including worldwide deployment.”
“Now, defendants must allow similarly situated civilians seeking accession into the United States military to demonstrate the same and permit their enlistment, appointment, and induction,” added Brinkema.
Brinkema in April 2022 declared the military’s HIV restrictions unconstitutional.
Nicholas Harrison, a gay D.C. attorney and longtime member of the U.S. Army National Guard who has been living with HIV since 2012, challenged the policy. The Washington Blade reported the April 2022 decision ordered the Pentagon “to discontinue its policy of refusing to deploy and commission as officers members of the military with HIV if they are asymptomatic and otherwise physically capable of serving.”
Harrison became a first lieutenant in the D.C. National Guard on Aug. 5, 2022.
Isaiah Wilkins, one of the three plaintiffs in the lawsuit on which Brinkema ruled on Tuesday, was a member of the Georgia Army National Guard for two years before he left to attend the U.S. Military Academy Preparatory School. NBC News notes Wilkins was “separated” from the USMAPS after he took a medical exam “that revealed for the first time that he was HIV positive.”
āThis is a victory not only for me but for other people living with HIV who want to serve,ā said Wilkins in a Lambda Legal press release. āAs Iāve said before, giving up on my dream to serve my country was never an option. I am eager to apply to enlist in the ArmyāÆwithout the threat of a crippling discriminatory policy.āāÆ
U.S. Federal Courts
Club Q shooter sentenced to life in prison for federal hate crimes
Five people killed in 2022 mass shooting in Colo.
Anderson Lee Aldrich, 24, formerly of Colorado Springs, Colo., was sentenced to 55 concurrent life sentences to run consecutive to 190 years in prison after pleading guilty to 74 hate crimes and firearms charges related to the Nov. 19, 2022, mass shooting at Club Q, an LGBTQ establishment in Colorado Springs.Ā Ā
According to the plea agreement, Aldrich admitted to murdering five people, injuring 19, and attempting to murder 26 more in a willful, deliberate, malicious, and premeditated attack at Club Q. According to the plea, Aldrich entered Club Q armed with a loaded, privately manufactured assault weapon, and began firing. Aldrich continued firing until subdued by patrons of the club. As part of the plea, Aldrich admitted that this attack was in part motivated because of the actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity of any person.
āFueled by hate, the defendant targeted members of the LGBTQIA+ community at a place that represented belonging, safety, and acceptance ā stealing five people from their loved ones, injuring 19 others, and striking fear across the country,ā said Attorney General Merrick Garland. āTodayās sentencing makes clear that the Justice Department is committed to protecting the right of every person in this country to live free from the fear that they will be targeted by hate-fueled violence or discrimination based on who they are or who they love. I am grateful to every agent, prosecutor, and staff member across the Department ā from the U.S. Attorneyās Office for the District of Colorado, to the Civil Rights Division, the ATF, and FBI ā for their work on this case. The Justice Department will never stop working to defend the safety and civil rights of all people in our country.ā
āThe 2022 mass shooting at Club Q is one of the most violent crimes against the LGBTQIA+ community in history,ā said FBI Director Christopher Wray. āThe FBI and our partners have worked tirelessly towards this sentencing, but the true heroes are the patrons of the club who selflessly acted to subdue the defendant. This Pride Month and every month, the FBI stands with the survivors, victims, and families of homophobic violence and hate.ā
āATF will not rest until perpetrators like this defendant are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,ā said Steven Dettelbach, director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). āI hope todayās life sentence brings at least some peace to the victims and survivors of this senseless, horrific tragedy. That this sentence should come during Pride month reinforces how far we have left to go before all communities, including all LGBTQIA+ communities, are safe here. It also shows how far ATF and all our partners will go to ensure hatred does not win.ā
āThe defendantās mass shooting and heinous targeting of Club Q is one of the most devastating assaults on the LGBTQIA+ community in our nationās history. This sentence cannot reclaim the lives lost or undo the harms inflicted. But we hope that it provides the survivors, the victimsā families, and their communities a small measure of justice,ā said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Departmentās Civil Rights Division. āOur message today should be loud and clear. No one should have to fear for their life or their safety because of their gender identity or sexual orientation. The Justice Department will vigorously investigate and prosecute those who perpetrate hate-fueled, bias-driven attacks.ā
āHate has no place in our country and no place in Coloradoā said Acting U.S. Attorney Matt Kirsch for the District of Colorado. āI hope that todayās sentence demonstrates to the victims and those connected to this horrific event that we do not tolerate these heinous acts of violence.ā
The FBI Denver Field Office, Colorado Springs Police Department, and ATF investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alison Connaughty and Bryan Fields for the District of Colorado and, Maura White of the Justice Departmentās Civil Rights Division prosecuted the case.
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